Why Israeli assassinations aren't working the way they hope
Consider This from NPR
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4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | More than three weeks ago, President Donald Trump made a promise to the Iranian people. |
| 0:04.7 | Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. |
| 0:11.8 | Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. |
| 0:18.4 | When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. |
| 0:23.0 | That was on February 28th, the day the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran. They killed |
| 0:28.1 | Iran's supreme leader Ali Hamenei alongside other top military and political leaders. |
| 0:33.5 | The targeted strikes led primarily by Israel were meant to cripple Iran's governmental, military, and nuclear research arms. |
| 0:41.4 | And Trump said he wanted the killings to serve as an opening for the Iranian people to rise up against their government. |
| 0:48.1 | So far, they haven't. |
| 0:50.3 | But Israel and the U.S. have kept up the targeted assassinations. |
| 0:54.2 | Iranian leaders killed in recent days include Ali Larajani. |
| 0:58.6 | He was a long-time Iranian official, most recently head of their National Security Council. |
| 1:03.4 | Even President Trump said that has hurt his administration's efforts to communicate with the Iranian government. |
| 1:08.8 | We're having a hard time. We want to talk to them, and there's nobody to talk to. |
| 1:13.5 | We have nobody to talk to. And you know what? We like it that way. |
| 1:17.5 | These targeted attacks have a name in the intelligence community, decapitation strikes. |
| 1:23.8 | Jenna Jordan is a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. |
| 1:26.9 | And she actually wrote a book on decapitation strikes. |
| 1:29.9 | She says they're not helping Israel or the U.S. accomplish their war goals. |
| 1:34.7 | Continuing to target the leadership is not going to topple the regime. |
| 1:39.9 | It might cause delays. It might cause disruption. |
| 1:43.8 | But what I think it does is that it's emboldening |
... |
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